Shorticus

Masters of the Hidden Valley

@Shorticus

How goes the results?

@Lauder

It's 9:30 ATM. I'm finishing something for another RP, then I'll take a 2 hour nap, then I'll post the results. I had to wake up at 5:00 a.m. this morning to tear up some bad carpeting. (We're replacing it.)

Let sleeping dogs lie.

So, when we're inevitably named the Guild of Esteemed Sellswords, do we get to spell it all orky like?

New Dawn Rising

@ShorticusThe Forth one looks pretty good. I kinda get a British Empire vibe from it.

@Sigma

...Should I try adding similar lines heading up toward the corners like the British Empire flag? I could see that working.

New Dawn Rising

I need to go to bed, so I won't be able to finish this sheet tonight. HOWEVER:

I'd like for some opinions on the flags I threw together. I'm toying with trying something different, perhaps having the symbol in the center. Which flag do you folks think works best as is?

Advice is also welcome.

Flag 1

Flag 2

Flag 3

Flag 4

New Dawn Rising

I'm not done, but I'm gonna go ahead and post what I have for inspection while I go out for a few hours.

Malagasy Enterprises - Reinventing the Future

▽ Malagasy Enterprises ▽

Reinventing the Future

Nation Name: Malagasy Enterprises
Government Type: Corporate Empire
Head(s) of Government: CEO Amélie Rakotomalala
Persons of Importance:
Race(s):
Population:
Culture and Religion:
Pre-Cataclyism Technology: Some of the relics owned by Malagasy Enterprises seem futuristic in the post-war world (hence their slogan: "Reinventing the Future"). Perhaps the most valuable piece of technology is the VT, or Vehicular Terraformer. Created by pre-war scientists who foresaw a great catastrophe, this device is used to "scrub" radioactive waste, remove toxins from the earth and air, and can turn barren landscapes into fertile paradises. Of course, there are only a handful of VTs available, each of which is heavily guarded when fielded, and the corporate empire has no intentions of sharing this technology with its neighbors (though Madagascar has been known to "hire out" a rare few terraformers with heavy escorts). Thus far, Malagasy Enterprises has been unable to create their own VTs, but they've made some major advances in the fields of biology and chemistry as a result of their research.

Another highly important holdover from the past is a rather advanced knowledge of the human genome... and several ways to modify it. Malagasy Enterprises has conducted many genetic experiments on its populace, sometimes selecting volunteers and sometimes conducting it on unwitting individuals. This has resulted in some "changed" individuals in society, some whose changes are barely perceptible and others whose changes are very overt.

A wealth of civilian technology from the past - high tech microwaves, quality radios, household computers, electric furnaces, etc. - still remain in Malagasy hands. Like most pre-war technologies, Malagasy has used this as a starting point to reinvent the "past future," though their designs are not yet quite up to snuff when compared to pre-war civilian devices.

Finally, the conquest of South Africa led to the discovery of a hidden bunker of highly advanced sixteen foot tall mechanized battle suits. The researchers in charge of the operation apparently sabotaged their own research and committed suicide in light of the nuclear apocalypse, but that hasn't stopped Malagasy Enterprises from investing a huge sum of money into unlocking the secrets of this technology. They've been largely unsuccessful thus far, but they've kept the operation as secret as possible, and they've begun fielding some of the prototypes to test out their abilities in the field. After all, the possibility of leaving a few dead pilots is worth illuminating the potential powers of this technology.

History: The nuclear holocaust saw the destruction of a great many nations across the world. The wanton destruction wrought by the leaders of Earth unquestionably changed life all over the globe. No country was spared change... but a few places were spared the missiles. Madagascar was one such nation.

Madagascar still suffered, however. Whole communities of immigrants began flocking to the untouched island in wake of the destruction, and it did not take long for fighting to break out on the isle. The national government, anti-immigration factions, immigrant factions, independence factions, and ambitious military leaders all tangled with one other in a terrible, brutal war that encompassed the entirety of the island. From this mess arose an unexpected victor: Malagasy Enterprises, formerly known as the East Africa Trade Group.

Before the nuclear war, several major businesses and corporations with their fingers in Africa united to form a megacorporation called the East Africa Trade Group. This included branches of the Bank of Africa and several companies across eastern Africa, western Australia, France, and India. Some of the major players had the foresight to move their funds and resources into Madagascar, though at the time this was done to avoid paying taxes, not to avoid the nuclear war. With the world in ruins and Madagascar isolated, it was easy for the East Africa Trade Group to take over the island under the pretense of "assisting" the destabilized government. It did not take them long to shed this premise and establish themselves as the new government.

After rebranding themselves as Malagasy Enterprises, Madagascar's rulers set about reestablishing trade around the Indian Ocean and taking control of weaker parts of the region. The corporation was more than happy to use its dissidents as settlers in less hospitable regions of the world even as they used pre-war terraforming technology to begin cleaning radioactivity along the coast of Africa and making the land green and fertile. This helped Madagascar evolve into an agricultural powerhouse with an iron grip on regional trade, and over the coming years Madagascar started expanding its trade exploits north into the Mediterranean and east past Malaysia.

Colonial efforts became bolder as another global power entered the field: the Great Han. Malagasy's corporate government became highly competitive with the Great Han, trying to match their vessels ship-for-ship and trying to out-colonize and out-trade them at every turn. This rivalry has sped up technological and economic development on Madagascar as Malagasy Enterprises tries to find an answer to the Great Han's advanced navy.

And over the course of its expansionist, aggressively capitalist history, Malagasy Enterprises has managed to earn the ire of its closest neighbor: the Democratic Republic of the Congo. War with this smaller yet highly militarized state has been a drain on Madagascar's resources in recent years. Colonial ventures are costly to start up as well, though Malagasy has found them to ultimately be highly profitable, and Australian tribes have waged guerilla warfare against Malagasy colonists since their first efforts to tame the little continent.

That is the state of things for Malagasy Enterprises: the corporate nation has its attention being tugged at from three cardinal directions. It seeks to increase its trade in the north, seeks to quell the Congolese threat to the west, and needs to secure more colonies in the east even as Australia and the Great Han are fighting to make that impossible. The world's first true corporate empire has quite the struggle ahead of it.

Military:
Other:

Masters of the Hidden Valley

@Lexicon Sounds fine. I'd advise bringing one or two gallocmen in case there IS something dangerous, but you shouldn't need more than that to explore so close to your own territory.

@Lauder If I included ducks in this game, it'd be like this one D&D campaign I ran which got weird fast and you really don't want that. It had such monsters as the fearsome ducklings, a duckubus, and the legendary Quackon. Also, I included exploding egg monsters.

I'm not going to risk the possibility of those things becoming a part of this roleplay. You're welcome.

Masters of the Hidden Valley

@Lexicon Firstly, you can put together an expedition if you haven't used your action yet. Anything is possible. Just remember that if too many kerns are taken away from the fields, you may have problems; and gallocmen know jack all about plants. They're fighters first and foremost.

Secondly, I'll note that having someone with plant-related or animal-related skills might help you on this endeavor. Being an alchemist is useful here, and your clan bonus will come into play, but that's all Maire has going for her in this situation, I'd argue.

Also note that you may not find exactly what you're looking for. It depends on what's in the area. Do you have an idea where you want to poke your nose? (I'll note that the clan's lands aren't fully explored, just like how in KoDP you could explore your own territory to find things you didn't find before.)

If you DO find what you're looking for, I think an increase in cattle count (I.E. healthier cows make more baby cows that survive) is fair, yes.

And no, you don't need permission from the Council. Your actions don't influence diplomacy or the like (I.E. you're not raiding anyone or making deals or what have you).

Masters of the Hidden Valley

Woops. Well then assume my point goes to mystery or war or what can help me the most.

I'll edit after work.

@Wernher

Sure thing! Just post what you want the point to go into after work.

I think what I'll do next time is put an explanation about what each of those things you can put Magic into are. It's one place where staying true to my source material was probably a bad idea: KoDP does very little to explain why you should put Magic into stuff except to have advisors say you should.

Masters of the Hidden Valley

Oh no no, I meant I just wasn't sure if I'd be able to churn out a post between now and when the next turn comes. Thanks for the ideas, though, lol.

@Lexicon

Oh. I just noticed this post.

I'll wait until NOT Thursday. My bad. I'll get some posting and writing of my own done, but the story won't move forward until Sunday or whenever everyone's had a chance to get their thoughts into the IC. No worries.

Masters of the Hidden Valley

I've a couple notes to make before I make my main posts tomorrow. Anyway, @Wernher:

Just in case you're seeing this as a Quest in terms of the Quest point you spent Magic on earlier, that's a very different thing. Quest = Heroquesting = entering the land of the gods in a magical ritual. This = something else entirely. I only note this because your post made Eliz say very clearly "This is a quest," so I'm not sure if there's confusion.

Beyond that, just remember that certain language doesn't apply to this setting. Peeps, for instance, is a very modern term. Slapping balls is also distinctly modern, though there's terminology similar to that you could use. Point being: highly anachronistic phrases can be very immersion breaking. I won't nag you folks about this often, but for similar reasons to me asking everyone to stick with Irish/Celtic names, I'm asking that we try and keep the story feeling like it came out of the past.

(EDIT: Gosh, I must sound really pedantic. I apologize if that's the case. Like I said, I'll try not to annoy you folks with this stuff often.)

Finally, concerning how many Sacred Times we'll have: I'm gonna put off deciding on that for now since some people want it and some people don't. We'll see how everyone feels in 6 weeks.